Homeless Population Problem

564,708 people in the United States are considered homeless (“2016’s Shocking Homelessness Statistic”). Some unrealistic expectations for a growing homeless population are that it will go away on its own or the homeless will soon get the memo and magically rejoin us as contributing members of society. The problem with these expectations is that the only way the homeless population will decrease is by either dying off or receiving the needed resources to get back on their feet. Instead of creating unethical expectations for the homeless we, as a society, need to come up with solutions that will help decrease the homeless population. Solutions that work for the homeless population in the United States are needed so that we can begin to redirect
Services that are common in homeless shelters are housing, job training assistance, and medical attention. The problem with housing is that the number of people shelters can take in does not nearly equate to the number of people in need. An example of a possible outcome of this is the “thousands of unsheltered homeless people sleep on New York City streets, in the subway system, and in other public spaces” every night (“New York City Homelessness”). The majority of housing services want people that are “housing ready” meaning that, to an extent, the person has ridden themselves of drugs and found a job that can potentially keep them on their feet. The problem with these requirements is that the individuals that are going to them, for help to quit their bad habits and are in search of a place to stay while looking for a job, are not "housing ready". This being said the homeless shelters are not actively helping the homeless, they are helping the people that have already helped themselves. Granted, the requirements do help uphold the establishment to a certain merit (Kryda). The standards are created in efforts to keep shelters clean and free of temptations such as drugs and alcohol. Although, at the same time shelters are turning people away that are in serious need of
Every community has a specific area(s) where it needs the most help and therefore requires resources that are customized to fulfill the needs of the surrounding homeless population. Given that placing the necessary programs into place may sound like a tedious process, it should not discourage and effect the amount of help the homeless community receives. There are many ways in which the homeless population could be helped but to begin rebuilding the current system in place is the key to keeping up with the continuous increase in the homeless population. The homeless population needs better functioning shelters, specialized programs that can help specific groups of the homeless community, and members of society to understand what they have gone through and how their hardships have affected what they need from programs and resources shelters provide. Understanding the reasons as to why homelessness is a problem in order to produce solutions is an effective tactic but given that homelessness has consistently been a problem I think the appropriate step to take would be to look at the current system and understand what can be improved and what is no longer